Isha Lakhani, Stoecwer cause upsets

Isha Lakhani of India shocked second seed Pichaya Laosirichon of Thailand while Dominic Stoecwer of Switzerland sidelined eighth seed Arun Prakash of India on way to the semi-finals of the girls and boys' (under-18) singles respectively in the ITF junior circuit (Grade-4) tennis tournament in Bombay on Thursday.

In quarter-final matches, local girl Isha, who had ousted fifth seed compatriot Sandra Abraham on Wednesday, played the serve and volley game to perfection to crush Laosiricion 6-1,. 6-4 in 45 minutes.

Stoecwer, who had defeated top seed Amanjot Singh and 15th seed K Somdev Verman in earlier rounds, ousted Prakash 6-2, 6-1 in 40 minutes.

Another giant-killer in the girls' section, unseeded Kartiki Bhat, who had sent top seed Megha Vakharia packing in he first round, subdued eighth seed Nandita Chandrashekar 6-3, 6-1 in 50 minutes.

Third seed Rebecca Dandeniya of Great Britain booked her semi-final berth with a 6-4, 6-2 win over sixth seed Rasa Maya of Indonesia in one hour and five minutes while fourth seed Diana Julianto of Indonesia drubbed seventh seed Lata Assudani of India 6-1, 6-1 in 35 minutes on way to the last four stage.

In the boys' section, second seed Rohan Gajjar and fourth seed Karan Rastogi along with third seed Anuwatf Daldom of Indonesia booked their semi-final spots.

Gajjar crushed campatriot and fifth seed Jacob Mathew 6-1, 6-0 while Rastogi tamed Rishi Behl 6-1, 6-1. Daldom was leading 6-4 when his opponent, seventh seed Sratha Saengsuwarn conceeded the match due to injury.